"He's not drawing any money" - Eric Bischoff gives brutally honest opinion on top AEW star
Eric Bischoff has been brutally honest about his opinions on AEW. He has now given his honest thoughts on an AEW star.
When Will Ospreay first signed with AEW, fans were excited at the thought of watching one of the very best in-ring performers weekly. In terms of his in-ring performance, Ospreay has managed to live up to the hype with exhilarating performances against some of the top stars in the company. However, from a business standpoint, Ospreay has failed to be a huge ratings draw that Tony Khan probably expected him to be.
In fact, the company's ratings and viewership have only gone downhill over the past few years. Last week's episode of Dynamite drew 655k viewers, which is way down from last year's viewership of 837k. The episode had a rating of 0.19 in the key 18-49 demographic, which is again way down compared to last year's ratings of 0.27.
Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff said that Will Ospreay is far from being the best wrestler in the world because he doesn't draw any money or ratings:
“He’s not drawing any money. He’s not drawing ratings. He’s not drawing anything.”
Eric Bischoff advised Tony Khan to release Rey Fenix
Rey Fenix's contract has been a topic of hot discussion in recent months. The luchador had requested his release from AEW. However, he had injury time added onto his contract which prevented him from leaving along with his brother Penta. While Penta debuted in WWE earlier this year, Rey Fenix is still stuck in the Jacksonville-based promotion.
Speaking on his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff advised Tony Khan to do the right thing and release him since it won't hurt him financially:
"If there's no plan to use him then for God's sake, I know money doesn't matter because Tony's not held accountable financially for anything, but damn, do the right thing. It's not like it's going to hurt your business Tony, just cut them loose, save the money, donate it." [H/T WrestlingInc.]
It will be interesting to see when Rey Fenix will be released from his All Elite Wrestling Contract.